is dumping the exhaust before the rear axle legal?

 

Probably not. Most states require the exhaust to exit to be beyond the passenger compartment. With a hatch-back style, that's basically the rear bumper or possibly the side of the car.

You should be able to track down the info for Texas through the department of motor vehicles, or perhaps state patrol. Figure on getting forwarded to a few different departments along the way.

 

You'd probably save a lot of time just going to the library and looking it up yourself. Those gov't phone jockeys wouldn't know their own name if their desk didn't have a nameplate.

 

Mustang owners seem to get their cars past inspection. Ask someone you know that has it, or go to a mustang site like www.corral.net and search/ask there. I'll be dumping my exhaust in a few days.